Fern Kupfer: Steve King Redux and Grandma Fern

By Fern Kupfer

Sunday

Jul 15, 2018 at 12:01 AM

Four years ago, I met Congressman Steve King in my capacity as a community board member of this newspaper. In that interview, I found him to be out-going and cheerful, with sparkling blue eyes and a warm smile.

His politics however were questionable. Now his politics are horrific, grounded in ignorance, provincialism and fear-mongering.

In that interview years ago, I recall Steve King earnestly maintaining how he would always fight for personal freedom and against big government.

Like many conservative Republicans, he complained about the intrusion of government in our lives. One of the nefarious evils Steve King talked about then was first lady Michelle Obama’s proposal to reduce calories in school lunches. King declared a food fight against what he imagined as regulatory excess. Suddenly, encouraging kids to eat their vegetables was demonized as a government intrusion by an evil nanny state.

I brought up the topic of abortion, expressing confusion about what seemed to be an inconsistent philosophy. At that time there was a bill supported by Republicans mandating a trans-vaginal ultrasound for any woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy. I asked how this, a medically unnecessary and humiliating procedure, fulfilled a Republican promise for less intrusion into the lives of private citizens. I may have used the word “vagina” and “intrusion” a few too many times because the conservative congressman abruptly turned toward a less combative board member to discuss ethanol.

At the end of the interview, King was polite. He smiled, shook my hand and said amiably: “Well, I guess I can’t count on you for your support.” I told him he was right about that one.

Four years later, his ugly tweets about immigrants, his admiration for white nationalists, his misguided beliefs about who is entitled to populate America, his smears and fears … all make clear the fact that Steve King is an embarrassment to our great state of Iowa.

Pandering to the very worst of us, Steve King has advocated for dog-fighting and Muslim-banning and wall-building. He fosters the fear of “the other” by supporting the stereotypes of Mexicans as criminals and Muslims as terrorists. He doesn’t understand that Iowa, with its low birth rate, needs a strong immigrant work force. Of course, he enthusiastically supports the malevolent fool we have in the White House.

King has slipped under the covers with other creepy political bedfellows: birthers and holocaust deniers and former Nazi party members and KKK sympathizers. For a scary read go to the July issue of Rolling Stone Magazine: The Hateful 8: Meet the Biggest Bigots On the Ballot in 2018. (From holocaust denial to racism and homophobia, these men have loud opinions — and they want your vote!)

How do we say enough? How do we take back the Iowa we used to know?

Humanitarian Robert Ray welcomed thousands of immigrants to our state because it was the right thing to do. Norman Borlaug’s mission was to feed the world. Tom Harkin passed legislation for the rights of disabled Americans. Chuck Grassley in his previous incarnation was the only Republican senator who didn’t vote for the war in Kuwait; he fought boldly against unnecessary military spending.

When I met Steve King four years ago, I was dismayed. Four days ago, I met J.D. Scholten and I am encouraged. J.D is a tall (very) ex-baseball player, out of King’s district. A litigation paralegal, Scholten is new to politics, a fifth-generation Iowan, a fresh face without a slick delivery. He emanates Iowa Nice. And is determined to beat King.

Scholten says he wants to fight for an “inclusive America” on a platform that backs a $15 minimum wage and a move toward a single-payer health care system.

Go on his website and you’ll see a photograph with him and a woman he calls his inspiration, his Grandma Fern. Meeting Scholten last week and telling him my name, I confessed that considering our current political climate, perhaps I was the one who needed some inspiration.

I’m encouraged that this time sensible and empathetic Iowans will vote Steve King out of office and Make Iowa Proud Again. The slogan might even look ok on a hat.

Ames author FERN KUPFER is retired from the Iowa State University English Department. She is working on her next novel, “The Ring of Athena.”

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